whole = less than its parts

not final edit...gotta bookmark it near July 4

Okay, let's just get the obvious over with: I am an American, I don't want to live anywhere else, and though it's debatable on some scores, we remain the country with the most individual "freedoms." That said, our history, with a few exceptions, is no "prouder" than anyone else's, and has been driven by greed, power, and brutality more than ethics--again, as have all nations'. We lucked out with our mutt mix and astounding natural resources, and despite ourselves this has continued to be a formula for a type of success.........so far.

As I mentioned before, I grew up in a household that was not steeped in the culture, but it speaks for itself that we were taught to call the Civil War the War Between the States. I am no longer of that persuasion, probably never was, but simply respected my parents enough to not be maniacal about challenging them. At least until I was 17.

What this sort of upbringing did accomplish, however, was to leave me with a feeling of isolation from the rest of the country. It was an easy jump to collegiate "anti-American" in the seventies, and an even easier jump to anti-corporate-America now.

I am crazy about the parts of this country, but I do not love the "whole" via patriotism. Though most would be quick to point out that I would not have that choice in many countries, I can say that patriotism would be an alien concept to me in any location. But the U.S. is the place where I am a citizen, with all the concurrent rights & responsibilities---it is neither the template for nor the manifestation of my personal morality. Hmm, though a bit more of the latter wouldn't be a bad thing.

We are not the moral giants we claim to be, and we revise, rewrite, or simply delete historical facts that we don't like, as if our national persona is so weak it cannot survive the light of day. We ought to be stronger than that. We ought to be able to look at what we've done wrong and admit that we have put criminals into our highest offices and vow to never do so again---but we don't.

more to follow....

Like it or not, these are all of my flags.

p.s. and so not fair co-opting the bald eagle into a political stance. At least it can claim to mate for life, raise it's offspring responsibly, and kill only what it needs to survive.